Count on voters for big turnout

Record absentee, early voters may still mean long lines on Nov. 6

Nov. 1, 2012

Dozens lined up at the Leon County Courthouse on Wednesday to vote early as record ballots were cast in Florida, both at early voting sites and by mail, ahead of Tuesday's Election Day. / Paul Flemming/Democrat

“We are of age now and have an opportunity to make a decision to affect an election.” — Emani Bell, 18, FAMU student

Early voting in Leon

There are three more days of early voting in Leon County, through Saturday, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. at the following locations. » Woodville Community Library, 8000 Old Woodville Road » Fort Braden Library, 16327 Blountstown Hwy. » Northeast Library, 5513 Thomasville Road » Eastside Library, 1583 Pedrick Road » Leon County Courthouse Rotunda, 301 S Monroe St.

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Even as voters turn out in record numbers for early voting, Leon County elections officials say they are preparing for unprecedented crowds on Election Day.

Ion Sancho, the county’s election supervisor, said more voters, fewer polling places and fewer days of early voting mean the county could easily exceed 75,000 voters on Election Day itself, despite the promotion of mail-in ballots by both parties and a wider window of early voting hours available each day.

Four years ago, nearly half of Leon County voters cast their votes before Election Day, either by mail or early in person. To reach that same level this year, the pace of voting would need to increase as the election gets closer, as it has in past years.

With 13,000 more registered voters than the last presidential election, Sancho said officials were preparing for long lines during peak voting hours, especially in the early mornings.

Changes passed by the Legislature have compressed early voting into fewer days. As a result, the daily volume of voters has increased, setting a single-day record on Saturday. Sunday, the slowest day of 2012 so far, would have been the third highest-volume day in 2008.

Supporters of President Barack Obama have also promoted absentee ballots, shuttling voters to cast them in person at the elections office and effectively expanding the early voting period.

“We said, OK, this is what the law is. We've got to deal with it,” said Kristin Dozier, a Leon County Commissioner and Barack Obama supporter, who said the campaign has promoted early voting “to increase the participation and the number of people that will exercise their right to vote.”

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, set to become Senate president, added an amendment to 2011 elections legislation that raised the number of early voting hours supervisors can offer each day from eight to 12 hours — meaning more total hours are available on weekends.

Sancho said packing more voters into longer days, coupled with the unprecedented crowd expected on Election Day, has placed a strain on his office. He has for decades been an advocate for expanding early voting, which serves as a “safety valve” to accommodate expanding voter rolls.

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“Twelve-hour, 14-hour days — the senior staff simply can’t do that,” he said.

Gaetz, whose Panhandle district includes a large military population, said he made the change to accommodate voters who work long and sometimes irregular hours.

“We have to make voting more convenient for them, and that’s what expanding early voting hours has done,” Gaetz said.

Some of the voters lined up outside the Leon County Courthouse said they were opting for convenience, and hoping to avoid long lines on Election Day. Tacarra Morrison, a Florida A & M University student, was among those who took shuttles downtown.

“I think it’s a good idea that they provided transportation, because a lot of people live on campus and don’t have cars,” she said.

Sancho said the best way to avoid long lines — both in early voting and on election day — is to vote during off-peak hours, during the afternoon and evening. State workers can ask for time off to vote, and he said everyone should consider voting after work, since the biggest crowd comes in the morning and the wait can be more than an hour.

Emory Hingst said he and his wife arrived at the courthouse Wednesday afternoon hoping to avoid the rush. They waited in line for about 35 minutes.

“It may be very crowded on the exact day,” he said. “You don’t know until you get there.”